'X' marks homes firefighters won't enter except to save a life

Friday

Nov 21, 2008 at 12:01 AMNov 21, 2008 at 9:22 PM

“It’s stupid. There’s so many people homeless and on the street, and this house sits empty. My house could catch on fire. My neighbor’s house could catch on fire,” said Felipe Da Costa, who’s lived next a house marked with a red slash on Albion Street for about four years.

Erin Smith

The white sign with a big red “X” stood out against the charred walls as firefighters doused a suspected arson fire at 46 Pearl St. Friday.

Before the early-morning blaze, the weeds grew high on the lawn and pedestrians often crossed to the other side of the street to avoid passing in front of the house with the missing and boarded-up windows.

The red “X” on the building was put in place to protect firefighters’ lives. It marks abandoned buildings around the city and warns firefighters not to enter unless a life is at risk, while a single red slash sign slightly downgrades the warning and cautions firefighters to fight the blaze from outside the building and enter only with extreme caution.

City officials said 12 Somerville buildings are currently marked with a red “X” or slash.
State Rep. Denise Provost has been outspoken about her fears that the number of abandoned houses could rise in a volatile economy.

Although city officials haven’t been concentrating on adding the signs to foreclosed houses, foreclosures rose more than 100 percent over the first nine months of this year. From January to September 2008, there were 41 foreclosures, while only 20 foreclosures were reported during the same nine-month period the previous year, according to the Warren Group.
Provost also feared that fires at abandoned buildings could easily spread to neighboring houses in Somerville, a city ranked as the most densely populated city in New England in the 2000 census.

Somerville fire officials admitted it’s not as effective to fight a blaze from only outside the building.

“It’s stupid. There’s so many people homeless and on the street, and this house sits empty. My house could catch on fire. My neighbor’s house could catch on fire,” said Felipe Da Costa, who’s lived next a house marked with a red slash on Albion Street for about four years.

With foreclosures rates up and building inspectors not always aware of every abandoned building, fire officials said neighbors have a reason to be worried.

“With the change in weather, you have transient people looking for a place to stay and the heat is not on, so they do what they can to stay warm and sometimes start fires,” said Fire Lt. Tom Salemme.

State lawmakers added the red “X” and slash signs to state building and fire codes after six firefighters died after a homeless couple accidentally started a fire inside an abandoned Worcester warehouse in 1999. It took more than a week for crews to find their bodies in the rubble.

Friday’s fire at 46 Pearl St. is the third blaze at an unoccupied or under-renovation house so far this month. Firefighters were called to a fire in a first-floor bedroom of an apartment at 22-24 Cutter Ave. Nov. 8. On Nov. 4, firefighters responded to a three-alarm fire at 79 and 81 Walnut St. Six residents were left homeless at 79 Walnut St., while the three-story house at 81 Walnut St. was under renovations with a “for sale” sign out front. There were no “X” markings on the Cutter Avenue or Walnut Street fires, but firefighters fought another suspicious blaze last February at a red “X” building at the intersection of Medford and Trull streets.

Salemme said the markings provide an important tool to let firefighters know whether the buildings are structurally unsound. During nighttime blazes, firefighters can’t see whether the floor is missing or the roof is going to cave in through the thick, black smoke, Salemme said.

“It’s people first, property second,” said Salemme. “We’re not going to put our lives at risk for an abandoned building that’s in disrepair and almost condemned anyway.”

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